! !!North Belfast Cultural Corridor walking guide !

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!1 Carnegie Library was gifted to Belfast Corporation in 1908 by Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American steel magnate. The Public Libraries Act (Ireland) of 1855 heralded the setting up of the public libraries, empowering towns of over 5,000 inhabitants to establish free public libraries, although actual progress in opening libraries was slow. Carnegie gifted two other libraries at Donegall Road and Falls Road. Built in New Tudor Gothic style with red brick and stone dressings. !The library is closed and in the ownership of Libraries NI. www.librariesni.org.uk !!2 Crumlin Road Masonic Hall was built in 1939 in Art Deco style to a design by John McGeagh. Now a Grade 2 listed building, the hall is home to James Chambers Masonic Lodge No. 318. The Warrant of this Lodge has travelled around the world, the first record showing it as a duplicate Warrant, issued in Stewartstown, Co. Tyrone before being transferred to New Brunswick in 1830, Mackay, Queensland in 1879 and back to Northern Ireland in 1911, being issued to James Chambers Masonic Lodge No. 318. !In 2011 James Chambers Masonic Lodge No. 318 celebrated their centenary when 85 brethren celebrated in an almost full Lodge room. Despite a reputation for secrecy, this Freemason’s Hall on specific days, welcomes the public to gain a rare insight into a body that is ‘more than just a gentleman’s club’. www.jameschambers318.org.uk !3

The Crumlin Road Gaol designed by Charles Lanyon was opened in 1846. The layout was based on Pentonville Prison in London. ‘The Crum’ as it is affectionately known, is constructed of black basalt rock and replaced the County Gaol in Carrickfergus 12 miles to the North. The first prisoners were marched in chains from Carrickfergus.

It closed its doors as a working prison in 1996, today guided tours illustrate its history from when women and children were held within its walls through to the political segregation of republican and loyalist prisoners.

Open 7 days a week. 028 90741500 www.crumlinroadgaol.com !!!!!

4 Crumlin Road Courthouse was completed in 1850, it was designed by architect Charles Lanyon and is linked by an underground passage to the Gaol opposite also by Lanyon. Many significant trials took place here, the last execution in N. Ireland was ordered from these very benches, and during the first 50 years its operation the hangings were conducted in public. The Courthouse is a grand neo-classical building originally with brightly painted facades, a large Corinthian portico is surmounted by the figure of ‘Justice', now lacking the necessary scales. Internally, the building is now in very poor repair, public efforts are ongoing to renovate it. !closed in June 1998 and in private ownership. !!5 Mater Infirmorum Hospital commonly known as ‘The Mater’ (Mother of the Sick) was established by the Order of the Sisters of Mercy. They went with Florence Nightingale to the Crimea battlefields and their fame as a nursing order spread worldwide. The first patients were admitted in 1883 and in 1909 it was officially recognised as a university teaching hospital.

Architecturally, the hospital is housed in a mixture of historic and recent buildings. The older parts are characteristic to the Victorian period and it had one of the first landscaped roof gardens in the country. The 20th C buildings are functionalist, the largest being a dark glass surface cuboid.

open to patients and visitors only

www.belfasttrust.hscni.net !6 Greenville Hall Synagogue at Annesley Street opened in 1904 with a significant donation from Sir Otto Jaffe, president of the community and Lord Mayor of Belfast. Three years later, the Jaffe Public Elementary School was founded nearby. There was no significant recorded Jewish settlement in N. Ireland but around 1845, Mr. Daniel Jaffe, a merchant from Hamburg, visited Belfast to establish contacts in the sale of linens. Within the next decade, he established several businesses in Belfast. !By 1901, 708 Jews resided in Belfast, Russian Jewish families had been given safe haven from pogroms and despite economic hardships, these families settled in the Antrim Road area, centre of the Belfast Jewish community. In the 1960’s a new synagogue was built further up the Antrim Road with a fine modernist interior by London architects Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardall.

www.jewishbelfast.com

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Carlisle Circus is named after Alderman James Carlisle who constructed the church here in memory of his only son and was named after Lord Carlisle, Viceroy of Ireland. The intersection is between the interface areas of the Crumlin, Shankill and Antrim Roads, and saw more than its fair share of deaths during ‘The Troubles’.

One of the most famous ‘residents’ at Carlisle Circus was the Reverend Hugh Hanna, known as Roaring Hugh Hanna because of his fiery street preaching. A statue was erected in his honour here in 1894, but was blown up in 1970. Now a less controversial monument is placed in the circus relating to the mills and the six faiths in the area. !!8 Carlisle Memorial Church is the architectural masterpiece of Belfast native, W.H. Lynn. Gothic Revival in design, it was bequeathed to the city by James Carlisle, a local linen merchant and Alderman, in memory of his deceased children. Completed in 1875, it was known as the Methodist Cathedral.

Built of limestone and sandstone, the imposing edifice of Carlisle Memorial has marked the gateway to North Belfast for generations. It closed as a church in 1982 and quickly fell into disrepair; it was internationally recognised by the World Monument Fund in 2010. Belfast Buildings Trust is leading a phased regeneration of the building which will see it become a hospitality training academy focused on skills and enterprise. Phase 1 Works, completed in 2015, will return the building to community use in the interim.

www.belfastbuildingstrust.org 02890 644 496 !9 The Indian Community Centre is a voluntary organisation, a hub for cultural activities for the Indian Community and it has always sought to include the wider community. The hall was part of the adjacent Carlisle Methodist Memorial Church complex by architect W. H. Lynn. Built in a Gothic Revival style and completed in 1875. !As a result of tensions and a decreasing congregation, the church building was closed and the ICC bought this part of the church hall in 1981. Being neither Protestant nor Catholic and mostly regarded as ‘other’, the Indian community have been using the hall with its Hindu temple, without major disturbance since. !open to the public: 9am-1pm and 5-8pm www.iccbelfast.com

NB no copyright for use on this image

!!10 Belfast Orange Hall opened in 1885, the plans were selected through a competition won by a Mr. William Batt, of Royal Avenue, Belfast and it cost nearly £7,000. !King William III however did not arrive until 4 years later after the hall opened. On the morning of 15th November 1889 a notice appeared on the front door of the Belfast orange Hall: ‘His Majesty King William III will arrive here at 8’o clock on Friday morning. Those desirous of accompanying His Royal Highness on his march northwards should be at the Bristol Shed, Donegall Quay at 7 o’ clock.’ It is said that many thousands of Orangemen took up the invitation, lining the street to see the 12 foot high bronze statue unveiled. The statue on the roof is the only one of King William on any Orange hall in Ireland. !www.grandorangelodge.co.uk 028 90701122 !!11 St Patrick’s Parochial House. In the 1790s the ground at the top of Donegall Street was leased for development as what was to become 201-215 Donegall Street, whose early residents included merchants, doctors and 'gentlemen'. Nos 201 to 205 were restored by the Hearth Housing Association but No. 199, now a Parochial House, was originally the palace of the Catholic Bishop of Down & Connor. This is a handsome four-bay, three storey brick building with hipped roof was constructed in 1820 and is now Grade B listed. !www.saintpatricksbelfast !12 St Patrick's Church built in Gothic Revival style and consecrated in 1877 replaced an early nineteenth-century church on the same site. As the Catholic population rose with the expanding city, the priest Father O’Donnell was able to secure a plot in Donegall Street left in trust for the Roman Catholic inhabitants of Belfast. The congregation at the time was not wealthy and was aided by donations from liberal Protestants such as Lord Castlereagh. The interior of the church was badly damaged in an accidental fire in 1995. The roof and ceiling and mosaic floor was replaced and the organ loft extended to receive the restored organ. !The side chapel near the entrance houses a beautiful Sir John Lavery triptych of Madonna and Child which is well worth seeing. !028 90324597 www.saintpatricksbelfast.org.uk !

!13 St Patrick's National School from 1828 is the earliest surviving example of Gothic Revivalism in Belfast, designed by Newry architect Timothy Hevey on land donated by the Marquess of Donegall for the first Catholic National School in the city. It continued to serve the north of the city until it closed in 1982. Famous former pupils include world champion boxer Rinty Monaghan, comedian Frank Carson (who lived in nearby Little Italy) and Gerry Fitt, the Belfast politician.

It lay vacant for a few years and in 1999 The Belfast Building’s Preservation Trust with its own borrowings and funds from the Heritage Lottery and Architectural Heritage Fund completed a renovation. Today the building houses a bookshop, a restored classroom and is extensively used by both local communities.

!!14 Clarke’s Dance Studio is something of an institution in Belfast having survived here in this ‘sometimes contentious’ area for over 50 years. Established in 1958 by Cecil and Eileen Clarke and functioned as a dance hall and a dance school. The Clarke’s School of Dancing has tried to promote social dance for both adults and children. Classes have included hip hop, jive, social ballroom, Latin and Argentine Tango. All ages and abilities are catered for and the Studio is still owned and run by the Clarke family. 028 90241949 www.clarkesdancestudios.com !15 The Irish News is the only independently owned daily newspaper based in Northern Ireland since its launch in 1891 as an anti-Parnell newspaper by Dr Patrick MacAlister, Bishop of Down and Connor. It merged with the Belfast Morning News in August 1892, its full tile remains The Irish News and Belfast Morning News. The three-storey, four-bay, red brick building which houses the paper is set slightly forward of the building line in Donegall Street. It was designed by J J McDonnell in 1905. The paper saw dramatic circulation growth at the beginning of ‘The Troubles’ in 1968, peaking around most violent period in 1971. !028 90322226 www.irishnews.com !!!!!!!

!16 The Belfast Telegraph, commonly known as the ‘Tele’ is Belfast’s only evening newspaper, first published as the Belfast Evening Telegraph in 1870 by brothers William and George Baird. Its first edition cost half a penny and ran to four pages covering the Franco-Prussian war and local news. !It has been printed and published from the present offices at 124-144 Royal Avenue since 1886. The clock is a notable feature of the street. The Belfast Telegraph was entirely broadsheet until 2005, when the compact edition was introduced however it struggled to replicate the success of the evening broadsheet format, however, it remains one of the most popular papers in N. Ireland.

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

028 90264000

17 St. Malachy’s College is the oldest Catholic Grammar School in Ulster. Founded in 1833 by Bishop William Crolly, it was initially a seminary built around the site of Vicinage House which was once the home of anti-slavery campaigner Thomas McCabe (who famously described himself as ‘an Irish slave’) he organised many meetings of the United Irishmen at his home. !Some famous pupils include the first Speaker of Dáil Éireann and co-founder of the Gaelic League, Professor Eoin MacNeill and the 19thC Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Charles Russell. !Several of Belfast’s finest authors attended the college, including Bernard MacLaverty, Michael MacLaverty, Robert McLiam Wilson and Brian Moore. Soccer player Martin O’Neill and TV broadcaster Eamonn Holmes also attended. The College’s motto is "gloria ab intus" translated from Latin as ‘glory from within’. !open to students and staff only Telephone 028 90748285 !18

Woodbine Cottage built in 1850 as a free-standing cottage when the Antrim Road was little developed. In 1896 a painter called James McKenzie moved in and his family remained until the 1970s. In its heyday the firm employed forty painters. The house is two-storey and double-fronted, but modest in scale. It is finished with coursed smooth-render, corner pilasters, moulded window architraves and a shallow Doric portico. The house had been essentially abandoned, Hearth Housing Association which provides social housing in restored historic buildings stepped in to restore it. It is now a private dwelling.

!19 The Duncairn Centre for Culture & Arts For more than 30 years the 174 Trust has been to the forefront of building community relations across the north of the city and with the opening of the new centre it aims to create a shared cultural hub to encourage and develop community cohesion through creativity and engagement with the arts. !It is the aim of the Trust that the facility is used for the benefit of everyone in the community. The new café/bistro is open seven days a week and everyone is guaranteed great food, coffees and a very warm welcome. This excellent facility is available to hire for conferences, concerts, drama and many other uses. open to the public with cafe. www.theduncairn.com !!20 Belfast Royal Academy is the oldest school in Belfast. Founded in 1785 in Academy Street in the City Centre, the school moved to its present site in 1880. Built in Gothic Revival style by Young and Mackenzie, the distinctive facade is Scrabo sandstone. Originally called The Belfast Academy, Queen Victoria granted permission for the school to style itself ‘Royal’ in 1888. The School Crest comprises the rose, the thistle and the shamrock, along with the Royal Arms, the arms of the City and the Province of Ulster. !BRA, as it is known, is a co-educational grammar school with strong academic, musical and sporting traditions. Famous past pupils include the first Governor of Hong Kong, international rugby player Jack Kyle, who was part of the first Irish team to win the Grand Slam and the local journalist William Crawley. !028 90740423 www.belfastroyalacademy.com !!!21 Clifton Street Graveyard was opened in 1797 and was managed by the Belfast Charitable Society. Burials no longer take place and it is now a historical site managed by Belfast City Council since 1984. A wall was built around the graveyard to combat bodysnatchers. It became common for relatives to build cages of stout iron or to stand guard beside new graves. Eventually the society employed watchmen to guard the cemetery. In 1799, the society set aside a portion of land for the ‘poor grave,’ and a large unmarked plot served as a mass grave for victims of the 1832 cholera epidemic. It is the

resting place of a number of Belfast's most distinguished figures including members of the United Irishmen and social reformers as well as industrialists and literary figures. !open by appointment only. 028 9032 0202 www.belfastcity.gov.uk !!22 Clifton House is an impressive Grade ‘A’ listed Georgian Building, set in landscaped gardens. Built in 1774 by Belfast Charitable Society, it was used until the 1880s as the Belfast Poor House. !By law the Society had considerable power over the welfare of the town’s citizens. As well as taking in the destitute, sick and poor, they administered the water supply, exercised authority over town planning, policing and firefighting. Children were taught the skills of mechanised cotton spinning and weaving - the start of the city’s industrialisation.

In more recent years Clifton House required a major refurbishment. The Society commissioned a new purpose built home at Carlisle Circus and leased Clifton House to Helm Housing Association. The Society now shares Clifton House with Helm while the Society run an impressive Interpretative Centre.

tours by available by arrangement: 028 90897534

www.cliftonbelfast.org.uk

!23 Ulster University is looking forward to an exciting new era with the momentous growth of the Belfast City campus. The university currently operates a large site at Jordanstown about 6 miles north of Belfast but it is envisaged that most activities will transfer to Belfast by 2018.

The university is investing £250m in their new Belfast campuses and will include a landmark 13 storey glass building adjacent to the existing Art College. The campus is being designed by Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios. The new buildings replace the former Belfast Co-op with its rooftop ballroom and the Belfast Interpoint Centre, itself a replacement for the original Co-op department store destroyed in the early 1970s

www.ulster.ac.uk !